As Season Fades, Combined Golfing Talents Win Tournament

SPORTS

Brad Downey and Craig Eagleson combined their golfing talents to win the Two-Ball Tournament at Manchester Country Club, the last major event of the fast-fading season.

The winning team defeated the father and son team of Johnston ``Doc'' McKee and his son, William. The margin was 2 and 1.

Downey, a former club champion, warmed up for the Two-Ball event by registering the third hole-in-one of his career. It came on the 18th hole.

The champs eliminated the teams of Bill Moran and Jim Johnston, Justin MacKinnon and Jack Medzela, and Eric Trudon and Dave Boggini en route to the finals.

The McKees sidelined the teams of Tom Vescey and Lon Annulli, Ward Holmes and Gordon Daring, and Bill Zwick and Myles McCarthy to gain the championship test. The elder McKee is also a former club champion.

Recent Winners

Ed Ciccaglione captured the annual Unico Golf Tournament at Manchester Country Club while Ward Holmes prevailed in the popular Provolone Tournament.

Flight winners in the Swingers Geritol competition found Harold Giglio gaining the high flight laurels with Gene Sullivan leading the way among the low flight entrants.

The South Main Street 18-hole course celebrated its 80th anniversary this season. Play first started in October, 1917.

The attractive flower bed, which impresses members and guests passing between the pro shop and clubhouse is the work of Morgan Grant. The latter has also maintained the area throughout the season.

Hole-in-one

Leo Cyr joined the latest Manchester Country Club members to record a hole in one. Club president Nick Carlo, Jim Moriarty and Dick Smith watched Cyr's drive settle in the cup on the fifth hole.

College Standout

Annand Annigeri, a two-time All-State selection while playing No. 1 with Manchester High varsity tennis team, is occupying the same position this fall with the Boston College squad. The local player is playing in both singles and doubles competition for the Crimson in Ivy League selection.

Annigeri led Harvard to a recent decision over UConn at Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Deaths Noted

Two longtime acquaintances and friends who made names for themselves on the sports scene died recently.

Johnny Cesario, who went into the restaurant business after his 13-year boxing career ended, lost a battle to cancer last week.

Abe Silverman died several weeks earlier.

Mr. Cesario owned and operated a Main Street restaurant in Manchester for a number of years and often entertained former boxing champions when in this area such as Willie Pep, Mickey Walker, Jake LaMotta and Sugar Ray Robinson.

Later, when he took over the concessions at the Hartford Civic Center, Mr. Cesario always had a warm welcome and talked about the good old days when he was one of the best welterweight fighters in New England and his many friends in Manchester.

Mr. Silverman made his name in basketball, as a player with the Hartford Dixies, the best team in the state in the '30s and later a successful coach at Hillyer College.

From the old school, Mr. Silverman was a two-handed set shot perfectionist who starred in college and later with the Dixies. I played one season with one of his independent Hartford teams and I recall his setting down on the bench any player who attempted one-handed basket throws. How the game has changed!

Dinner Notes

Nice touch at the recent Manchester Sports Hall of Fame dinner was to have longtime friends of two recipients being the presenters, Joe Erardi to Barry Bernstein and Jim Penders to Tom Malin. Erardi (1992) and Penders (1994) were earlier inductees.

Bonnie Edmondson joined Steve Gates as former Eastern Connecticut State University athletes elected to the local sports shrine. Gates was named in 1995. Edmondson and Gates are also members of the Eastern Sports Hall of Fame.

Ray Sullivan, in the latest local Hall of Fame class, is also a former Eastern Connecticut athlete who played four varsity baseball seasons, winning New England honors as a shortstop in 1978.

Sullivan was also the fifth member of the Manchester-based Moriarty Brothers entry in the Hartford Twilight Baseball League to be cited. Previously Johnson, Pat Mistretta, Ed Wojcik and Dave Bidwell were chosen.

Better known for his baseball ability, Sullivan was a hot-shot basketball player who averaged 35 points a game as a freshman at Illing and once tallied 48 points in one game. He later was a varsity performer at Manchester High in the sport.